'Elysia was missing? I feel like I should be surprised, but I am not for some reason. It is so much like Elysia to do such dangerous things.'
The more Lexus thought about it, the more he calmed down. His mind was running a thousand miles per hour even as everyone else fought with each other.
"Anyway, as things stand, my sister is not here. What are you planning to do now?"
It surprised Lexus how calm Lucas Dirac was even with his sister missing. He did not seem to be bothered on the surface and even went as far as to lie down. The kid in his arm was calm as well and regarded everything with interest.
Somehow, Lexus found himself calming down as well as he watched Lucas Dirac's calm temper. It was even making him forget all about his brother.
"For starters, we should think about what else we can do to find Elysia. It is clear that this world wants her and us to follow a pre-determined path but I don't feel comfortable doing that."
Lexus did not know what was going on this side of the rift but it seemed pretty messed up. Not to mention, these people were talking as if this world had a consciousness.
Not that Lexus would rule that possibility out. He had seen too much to rule anything out for now. He would just be on the outlook for now.
"That's all right and all but I don't understand why Elysia would want to erase her existence. I thought she was happy being with the people she loved."
Serina seemed to be the only one having a hard time accepting Elysia's decision. She was not too young to get these concepts but she was far more innocent than anyone else in this room.
It surprised Lexus whenever she asked these kinds of questions that betrayed how innocent she was.
"Are you serious? Did Elysia look happy to you when she was in your world? You should not trust her words."
Enma's words caused Serina's face to flush red but she did not back down. Lexus felt sorry for her and that was why he decided to help her save face.
"Get back to the topic. How do we find Elysia and how do we help her out? Do you all have any idea?"
No one spoke after Lexus asked that question. It was clear that if this side had any idea how to get to Elysia, they would have brought her back already. This meant that there was not a lot to be done.
But that did not cause anyone to lose hope. They were confident that Elysia would be back one day with them.
"We have Adrian so that is a plus. It is something that was never suppose to happen so he is an exception to this world's law. The best case scenario would be to wait for him to grow up and then do something."
"And how long will that take? Three years? Five? Twenty? We don't have that kind of luxury. Elysia is my sister and I want her back."
Surprisingly enough, it was Lucas who snapped this time. Lexus had not expected him to ever be this angry since he had looked calm and composed all this while. But this small outburst made him realize that it had only been his thinking.
In reality, Lucas had been trying to suppress his rage and his depression. He had tried to look calm only because getting angry would not help him bring Elysia back.
"Fine, I get it. But it is also true that we cannot do anything about it. We will have to leave it up to Adam and Eve to lure Elysia out."
Noctis's words caused everyone to feel a little bad about the situation. But was there anything else they could do? Likely not.
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"Adam, are you going out toward the rift? We don't know anything about the situation and you can even die if things do not work out. Even still, would you-"
Eve stopped speaking as soon as she was faced with Adam's determined expression. He was looking at Eve and his expression asked her not to question any decisions he made.
It was only because of her frustration that caused Eve to lash out like that. She wanted to head out as well but that was not possible. There was too much to be done back here and the priests were kicking up a fuss about her going.
And because Eve was frustrated, she had to sit back and not go out. Otherwise, she would make a mistake and end up causing quite a few people to worry.
"Eve, I know you are frustrated but keep this feeling inside. Don't worry, nothing would happen to me."
"Fine, just go. You can die out there all you like."
But even though Eve said that worry was evident in her eyes. Adam knew he could have fallen for her had the situation been different. But the heart wanted what it wanted.
"My lord, we need to start heading out now. The number of monsters is increasing every second. We will be overrun in a matter of minutes."
Adam turned away from Eve and it did not feel like the first time he had done this. He could almost make out a silhouette of someone at Eve's side, looking at him with worried eyes as well.
Maybe that had been Elysia whom he was trying to remember. But the more he tried to hold on to that illusion, the more it slipped past his hand.
"My lord, we should leave now."
Adam finally left at the second calling of his name. The more time he spend in the room, the more he did not want to leave it.
The team was ready outside the building. These handfuls of knights were some of the best he had trained but even they looked lackluster compared to before.
"Alright, here is the plan. And this is what we have to do."
Adam was sure that these monsters would be taken care of today itself and that he will still have time to look for clues in the debris. This clue-seeking was the only reason he had agreed to this monster hunt in the first place.
The temple, the people and even this world did not matter. What did matter be to feel the familiar feeling his spirit missed?
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"It's almost time. I wonder how long you will be able to last against this onslaughter. You should just give your power to me."
Axia looked at the sleeping face of the other world's consciousness. It was the one he had selected so carefully to absorb.
It had taken a lot to get to this point and weaken the barriers between the world. He also had to sacrifice a lot of resources and the story he had spun had also gone astray.
But even after all that, he had managed to reach the inner room of the other world. And his opponent was unconscious for now which gave Axia the advantage. He did not even feel bad for all the hiccups he had caused.
He reached out to take possession of the world's power but he was not able to touch the other entity. Somehow, the entity opened his eyes and they disappeared. An annoying chase had started.
"What the fuck? How did things come to this? Did someone let this information bleed out from my carefully cultivated plan?"
Axia raged as he watched his prey escape his teeth. It was a big problem for him and now he would have to start from scratch.
He quickly turned around the corner and it was a wonder he missed the small body that was hunched against the wall. Elysia held her breath as she waited for the man to pass. She had taken a big risk but it had been so worth it.
She had managed to cause the most intricate working of everyone's plan to turn astray and it was a good thing that she managed to do it.
"Great mother, I did it. But what should we do now?"
Elysia walked back into the room which was surrounded by two foreign magic energies. Staying in this room was making her sick but there was nothing else for her to do.
She had taken a big risk by trying to offset Axia's power but she had brought the other side some time. Her rational side had caused her to realize how important it had been to preserve the balance.
Even if Aixa was at risk of dying, these people needed to stay alive for now. And for that to happen, Axia needed to die.
'I guess the loss of emotions made me take this step. Yeah, that must be it. It is not because I feel sympathetic toward these people. Surely that is not the case.'
In the end, Elysia had to convenience herself about this. But even she knew she was trying to fool herself.
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